Real-World Gunfight Proves Fast Is Fine, But Accuracy Is Final

A man in his thirties was ambushed in his vehicle last week by a man who not only got off the first shots, but who made the first hit. The victim of the attack rallies, however, drew his own firearm, and ended the threat on his life by being the better shooter.

A shooting victim exchanged gunfire with a suspect, killing him, in north St. Louis Thursday night

The 37-year-old victim told police he was in his vehicle in the 5700 block of Delmar when the suspect, later identified as 34-year-old Marcus Portis, approached him and began yelling while showing a gun around 7:20 p.m.

After approaching the victim, Portis reportedly fired several gunshots, striking the victim. Then, the victim got his own gun and returned fire, hitting the suspect.

According to police, after the gunshots were fired, Portis ran from the area and eventually collapsed.

Portis was pronounced dead at the scene.

The victim was taken to the hospital with a gunshot wound to the thigh and listed in stable condition.

It’s amusing to watch any number of social-media-obsessed shooters engaging (and sometimes missing) targets from near-contact range. I’m impressed by their ability to draw a gun and get a shot off quickly. I’m typically far less impressed with their shot placement, however, as even on their highly-edited “sizzle reels” they can be seen shooting high, low, and wide with boring regularity.

This shooting in St. Louis is an example of the “get the shots off quickly” mindset can fail in real-life encounters against a determined adversary. Marcus Portis had the element of surprise and launched an ambush on a man in a vehicle in what should have been a relatively simple attack to complete successfully. He failed, however, to make a single effective hit, missing his intended victim repeatedly and leaving him only with a thigh wound.

Despite being behind the curve, the victim was able to regroup, draw his own firearm, and put effective shots on Portis that killed him in his tracks.

Bob Owens is the Editor of BearingArms.com.
Bob is a graduate of roughly 400 hours of professional firearms training classes, including square range and force-on force work with handguns and carbines. He is a past volunteer instructor with Project Appleseed. He most recently received his Vehicle Close Quarters Combat Instructor certification from Centrifuge Training, and is the author of the short e-book, So You Want to Own a Gun.
He can be found on Twitter at bob_owens.
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